Arsenal2-1NorwichCity-Howithappened

Norwich City -

Tue Oct 24 - 19:45

WHAT HAPPENED

Eddie Nketiah had a home debut he will never forget as he equalised 15 seconds after coming on, before heading home the winning goal in extra-time of our Carabao Cup fourth-round clash against Norwich City.

Trailing to the Championship club with six minutes of normal time remaining, Arsene Wenger took a gamble and threw on the 18-year-old, who has been so prolific at youth level.

Nketiah barely broke stride as he ran on before converting a corner from close range to spark jubilant celebrations.

It was a ‘goosebumps’ moment for those watching on, so you can only imagine what it was like for the teenager. But, scarcely believably, things got even better for him at the start of extra-time when he powered a header into the roof of the net.

That proved to be enough to send us into the quarter-finals, but this rush of excitement was at odds with much of the match that had gone before it.

In a first half of few chances, Rob Holding came closest for us with a close-range header that was pushed away spectacularly by Angus Gunn.

We were struggling to fashion any real opportunities, and then, with 34 minutes on the clock, the visitors hit us with a suckerpunch as Josh Murphy was played in on goal and he beat Matt Macey with a cool finish.

We were indebted to our debutant goalkeeper minutes later when the Canaries broke again, with Nelson Oliveira bending a shot towards the bottom corner that Macey did really well to palm away.

Walcott twice had efforts saved by Gunn before the interval, but there was no way through – and our frustration continued after the interval, too.

Chuba Akpom stepped off the bench with 20 minutes remaining as we sought an increased goal threat, but it was Norwich who were next to go close as Murphy’s first-time effort sailed over the bar.

Mario Vrancic should have wrapped things up for the visitors moments later when played in on goal, but he dragged a left-footed shot wide from inside the area.

With six minutes remaining, Nketiah’s moment arrived – and how he took it. Then, in extra-time he did it again.

On to the quarter-finals we go – but this night was all about Eddie Nketiah. What a debut, what an incredible debut for this young man.

HOW IT HAPPENED

MACEY WATCH

Young goalkeeper Matt Macey became the 850th player to represent the club when he made his debut against Norwich.

The 23-year-old performed well, and here are some of his key moments:

34 - Murphy is played through on goal and although Macey races out to close the angle, the Norwich forward keeps his composure and chips it past him and in

39 - Macey gets down and makes a fine save from Oliveira to keep us in the game after the forward had taken aim from the edge of the area

57 - Norwich work the ball well on the edge of the box, and Pinto chips the ball into the box to find Murphy but Macey saves his header from six yards out

58 - Macey gets a good hand to Murphy’s cross from the left to divert the ball away from the onrushing Oliveira

WHAT IT MEANS

We have booked our place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, with the draw due to take place at 4pm (UK time) on Thursday and streamed live on Twitter.

WHAT’S NEXT

We return to Premier League action on Saturday when 15th-placed Swansea City are the visitors to Emirates Stadium.

The Welsh side have beaten us three times in north London, although we have won our last two games against them – the last being a 3-2 victory in October 2016, with Mesut Ozil volleying home a spectacular strike.

Copyright 2018 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.

‘Eddiecansmellthecombinationmovements’

So what prompted Arsene Wenger to bring on Eddie Nketiah against Norwich, a player with just a handful of first-team minutes under his belt?

The Arsenal manager said in his post-match press conference that the forward’s predatory instincts made him a natural choice when chasing the game.

on what he was thinking from the bench…
We lacked ideas, we lacked a little bit to create clear-cut chances. I was impressed by the defensive performance of Norwich and so you sit there on the bench and think ‘What can we do to be a bit more dangerous?’. It was the occasion where we had to take a big gamble because there was not much time to go and I know that Eddie can score a goal.

on Nketiah’s qualities…
I know that he has character and is not afraid. He smells the combination movements, he can give and go and once a player has that in his game, they have always a chance. The guys who can understand that if they give the ball somewhere and they can get it back and know where to get it back, the quality of reception is a very important quality. I would say the quality of the reception, he has that.

on whether he regretted a lack of senior players on the bench at 1-0 down…
No, I didn’t. The boy Eddie is a good example. I just said that if I had experienced players on the bench, strikers for example, I would certainly in the end have put them on and not Eddie. Here you have no chance to put an experienced player on, so you try to find a young player who can give you a chance. If we speak about Eddie, it is because there was no experienced striker on the bench.

on whether there has been a rule change or whether he could always use a fourth substitute in extra-time…
Yes.

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Copyright 2018 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.

News

CarabaoCupdrawtobeheldonThursday

25 Oct 2017

The draw for the Carabao Cup quarter-finals will take place at 4pm (UK time) on Thursday - and will be streamed live on Twitter.

We booked our place in the last eight after beating Norwich City in extra-time on Tuesday night, thanks to a brace from Eddie Nketiah.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Ten tricky questions on our League Cup record&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How closely have you been following us in the competition? Find out by taking our quiz... &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Who scored their first Arsenal goal in a League Cup final?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Which club did we beat in the 1993 League Cup final?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Who was the unlikely scorer of our winner on that day?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;What was special about that match?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Who scored twice as we beat Liverpool in the 1987 League Cup final?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Which club did we beat over two legs in the 2007 League Cup final to set up a Millennium Stadium showdown with Chelsea?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Which of these players did NOT make their debut in the League Cup?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How many times have we won the League Cup?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;How many different players scored for us in our incredible 7-5 win over Reading in 2012?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;And finally, who was the unlikely hero when we beat Tottenham 2-1 at White Hart Lane in the third round of the 2016 League Cup?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;It's relegation for you!&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Mid-table obscurity&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Champions League qualification&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;The trivia title is yours!&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/h3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/section&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Copyright 2018 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.